


Challenge Accepted

by exuberant_imperfection, kate882



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 07:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4868366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exuberant_imperfection/pseuds/exuberant_imperfection, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko is a little too good at this video game, and Aomine is <i>way</i> too bitter about it.</p><blockquote>
  <p>“Tetsuuuu, stop killing me! ...I just wanna win <i>once</i>.”</p>
  <p>“Then get good."</p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	Challenge Accepted

[ **playin games with the bae** ](http://nexya.tumblr.com/post/112252537849/playin-games-with-the-bae)

**bae:** haha babe .. you’re soo competitive.. you should let me win just once..

**me:**

* * *

  
Kuroko watched impassively as his character killed Aomine’s again. He was getting kind of bored, but Aomine kept on insisting on rematches.

“Tetsuuuu,” Aomine whined, leaning over sideways to rest his head in Tetsu’s lap. “Stop killing meee!”

“Then stop playing so badly,” Kuroko replied, running his fingers through Aomine’s hair.

“Hey, I almost got you that time though!” Aomine objected. “One more, and I bet I’ll do it!”

“You said one more ten rounds ago,” Kuroko complained.

Aomine reached up and poked Tetsu’s face. “Well let me win one then. I promise I’ll stop!”

“Would you actually be satisfied with winning if I let you do it?” Kuroko asked skeptically, recalling the time they had played air hockey and Aomine had gotten mad at him for letting him win.

“...No,” Aomine grumbled. “But it’s better than losing a million times in a row. I just wanna win one.”

“Then get good,” Kuroko replied, still running his fingers through Aomine’s hair.

Aomine narrowed his eyes. “So it’s gonna be that way, huh?” _Challenge accepted._

* * *

It was way past midnight, there were three empty cans of energy drinks on the table nearby, and Aomine hadn’t moved from in front of the TV for over six hours, playing the same game over and over again.

Kuroko walked into the living room, surveying the situation sleepily. “Daiki . . . why?”

“To get good,” Aomine muttered absentmindedly, then swore as he failed at a particularly difficult combo move.

“It’s three in the morning. Come to bed,” Kuroko said, wrapping his arms around Aomine.

Sleep weighed heavily on Aomine's eyelids, so it was a rather tempting suggestion, but... "Sorry, babe, but I am _so close_ to leveling up, I gotta keep going just a little bit..." He drifted off as the game sucked in his attention again.

Kuroko frowned, but let go of Aomine. “Okay. Please try to get some sleep,” he said, turning and walking back into their room after kissing Aomine’s cheek.

Aomine didn't get any sleep. He finally quit out of frustration at around seven in the morning, wandering into the kitchen to brew some coffee. He just stood and stared at the coffee maker as he waited for it to finish.

Kuroko was drawn out of their room by the smell of coffee, and didn’t wait for Aomine to get any before pouring his own cup, since he had a feeling that Aomine would drink it straight from the pot if he gave him the chance. “You didn’t sleep, did you?” he asked after a few sips to become functional.

It took Aomine a moment to process that the coffee pot had moved, and when he finally turned to look for it he jumped at the sight of Tetsu, losing his balance and falling to the floor. He groaned, half from pain and half a vague acknowledgement that he'd heard Tetsu say... something.

Kuroko stepped back to avoid being caught in Aomine’s fall, and looked down at him with mild concern. “Do you at least have today off work?” he asked.

"...Awwwwww _shit_." Aomine somehow pushed himself to a sitting position and looked up at Tetsu. "What... fuckin’... What time is it???"

“It is seven in the morning,” Kuroko replied after glancing at the clock on the microwave. He would have to get going to work soon too.

Aomine frowned, not moving from the floor. "I don't wanna."

“Too bad. Imayoshi-san called me last time you decided not to come into work. His voice scared my students. Go to work,” Kuroko said firmly. “Maybe you should sleep tonight too. That way you don’t have to worry about this.”

Aomine sighed heavily. "I _guess_..." Then he struggled to his feet, leaning down to give Tetsu a quick kiss before taking the coffee pot from him and filling the largest mug he could find.

“What time do you need to be there?” Kuroko asked, and then his phone started ringing. He checked it and promptly shoved it at Aomine. “Before now, I’m guessing.”

Aomine took the phone and answered curtly without prelude, "I'll be there soon," and then hung up, passing it back to Tetsu. He stalked towards their room, taking the mug of coffee with him to gulp down while he got dressed.

“Why does your boss have my phone number?” Kuroko asked as he followed Aomine to their room to get dressed as well.

"Emergency contact or some shit," Aomine replied with a shrug. Then his expression grew darker. "Also, I'm pretty sure he and Satsuki have been dating behind my back. So I'm sure he hears all about you on a regular basis."

“They’ve been dating for two months. It’s not behind your back, you just don’t listen,” Kuroko replied calmly, pulling on a pair of jeans and one of Aomine’s shirts.

Aomine whipped around to face him. " _What?_ Two months?" His jaw clenched in irritation, and he said through gritted teeth. "That goddamned _bastard_."

“I just said they weren’t hiding it from you, so there’s no need for the language,” Kuroko told him, even though he was used to all the cursing y now, moving to the mirror to smooth his hair down.

Aomine rolled his eyes. "I'm not one of your little demon spawn, I can say what I want."

Kuroko rolled his eyes right back. "Children, Daiki. They are called children."

"Not when there are twenty of them swarming all over you at once," Aomine muttered, pulling on the last parts of his uniform before finishing his coffee.

"Twenty-seven," Kuroko corrected. "And they are still children."

Aomine returned to the kitchen to put his mug in the sink, calling over his shoulder, "Fine. Little demon _children_ , then."

Kuroko shook his head, but didn't comment so that Aomine would go to work.

Aomine had grabbed his keys and was about to walk out the door when he realized, "Oops, almost forgot something." He turned back to go give Tetsu a goodbye kiss, and then went on his way. "I'm gonna kick your ass at that game tonight, Tetsu!" he called in lieu of a farewell as he left.

Kuroko sighed. He kind of regretted showing Aomine the game, because he got the feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he found Aomine having stayed up all night playing.

* * *

Sure enough, when Kuroko got home from work he found Aomine on the floor, playing the game. "Daiki, you should sleep."

Despite the dark circles beginning to form under his eyes, Aomine sat up excitedly upon hearing him. "Tetsu! I'm glad you're back! Come on, let's play a few rounds," he said, patting the couch behind him and grinning. "I'm definitely not gonna lose to you this time."

"I'll play with you if you promise to go to sleep," Kuroko offered.

Aomine hesitated for a moment, but agreed. "Alright. But we gotta play at least, like, ten rounds."

"Five. Then you sleep," Kuroko replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"...Make it eight and I'll give you a goodnight blowjob?" Aomine bargained, smiling hopefully.

"Four and we can have sex before you go to sleep."

Aomine hesitated for just a moment, glancing at the TV... But he could also see the steel in Tetsu's gaze that told him further bargaining would be futile. "Deal."

Kuroko sat down next to Aomine and picked up a controller, easily defeating him in the first round.

Aomine very carefully did not get frustrated, trying to remain optimistic. “Alright, alright, that just… it wasn’t my round, doesn’t mean I still suck, I’m just uh. Just warming up,” he said, more a pep talk to himself than anything, as he began the next round of the game.

Kuroko wasn't convinced, but didn't say so. "Next round then," he said, starting it up and winning just as quickly as the last round.

Aomine frowned. "What the hell?"

His mood quickly devolved as Tetsu proceeded to also kick his ass in the last two rounds, as if he hadn't spent all that time getting better at the game.

"What the—oh _come on_ , that definitely has to be a hack, the CPUs don't do that! Cheater!" Aomine accused, putting down the controller reluctantly after round four.

"The CPUs do that if you set it to expert," Kuroko replied. "But they also run on coding that makes them predictable. Time for bed." He got to his feet and held out a hand to Aomine to help him up.

“Dammit,” Aomine muttered. He suddenly had the intense urge to continue practicing, setting the CPUs to expert this time, but he could also think of another good way to use that motivation. He took Tetsu’s hand and stood up, trying to hold his angry expression as he looked down at him, but not really succeeding now that they were done with the game. “Y’know, the fact that you’re super fucking awesome is a pretty big blow to my budding gaming career.”

Kuroko raised an eyebrow. "I think you should stick to being a police officer as a career."

Aomine pouted. “Where’s the faith?” he said, wrapping his arms around Tetsu’s waist and pulling him closer.

"It left when I found you late to work because of video games." Although, Aomine had been late to work for less. He had also made Kuroko late to work for less.

Aomine shrugged. “I can’t help the fact that I get uncontrollably passionate about my interests,” he said dramatically. “It’s just who I am, Tetsu.”

"Right, well, who you are right now is someone that promised to go to bed after four rounds, so let's go," he said, tugging Aomine's hand to lead him towards the bedroom.

“Don’t forget the other part of the deal, that part’s important,” Aomine said, following him.

"I'm not forgetting that part. We can still have sex. Although I still think you should just go to sleep," he said as they reached the bedroom.

Aomine pretended to consider it for a moment. “...Nah.”

* * *

Several hours later, it was some inhumane, early hour of the morning, and Aomine’s sleep was restless at best. The video game kept invading both his dreams and his waking thoughts. So finally, at around three in the morning, Aomine slowly got out of bed, trying his best not to wake Tetsu, pulled on some pants, and snuck downstairs to continue playing.

About two hours later, Kuroko woke up to a cold bed and wandered downstairs to find Aomine, frowning when he saw him playing again. "Daiki, come back to bed."

Absorbed in the game, it took him a minute to process what Tetsu said. “Uh… what… what time is it?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"It's five am. We can still sleep for another hour," Kuroko replied, moving to stand in front of the screen.

Aomine blinked at the sudden obstruction of his vision and looked up at him. “Oh, come _on_ , Tetsu, I was doing super well that round!” he whined. Then he gestured to the window, outside of which was a barely lightening sky. “And it’s practically morning anyway, might as well just stay up, right?”

Kuroko frowned at him. “No. Because then you’ll be tired at work. You can play video games later. You promised you would go to bed after four rounds.”

“Well, technically, I did,” Aomine countered. “I just couldn’t sleep.”

Kuroko narrowed his eyes. "Daiki. Go back to bed. You have work in the morning. You shouldn't be playing video games in the middle of the night just because you're upset about losing at something."

“You were the one who issued the challenge,” Aomine accused. “So _technically_ it’s your fault.”

“ _Technically_ you are an adult with responsibilities,” Kuroko replied.

“Yeah, but this game though,” Aomine said, gesturing emphatically at the TV in the hopes that he could convey his feelings to Tetsu. “It _calls_ to me.”

“That’s not healthy. Put it away,” Kuroko told him flatly.

Aomine’s voice took on a mocking tone. “Well according to you, _technically_ I’m an adult, so I don’t have to listen to you.”

“Daiki, if you say ‘technically’ one more time in this argument, you will be able to not listen to me all you want because I will be staying at Kagami-kun’s house, where I can hopefully sleep since he won’t be making noise with video games at five am.”

Aomine wasn’t sure why he did it, but he took those words as some sort of challenge. “...Technically it’s five-fifteen.”

Kuroko arched an eyebrow, before turning and walking out the door to their house, not even bothering to change out of his pajamas, and closing the door firmly behind him.

Aomine sat there for a moment in silence. In his state of sleep deprivation, he took a while to realize just how serious Tetsu had been. It wasn’t until about twenty minutes later, after he’d already returned to playing the game and the first real hints of sunlight started appearing, that he suddenly stopped and facepalmed. "Fuck."

* * *

Kuroko came back the next night, and almost wanted to leave again when he saw Aomine still playing the game, surrounded by cans of energy drink. At least it wasn’t a work day.

Aomine's eyelids were heavy but his heart was pounding at an alarming pace. He simultaneously felt like he could keep going forever, and like he was about to pass out at any moment. And when Tetsu came back, after all the time he'd spent alone in tedium, it was like suddenly surfacing from the bottom of a murky lake. He blinked a few times as he turned to him, and saw spots behind his eyelids. "Hey, Tetsu! I'm glad you're back."

“. . . Daiki, when did you last sleep?” Kuroko asked with clear concern as he glanced around at the mess that was their living room.

Aomine furrowed his brow in thought. "Um...... I... _might_ have passed out once or twice since you left? ...How long ago was that?"

“Just over twenty-four hours ago.” Kuroko walked up to the TV and turned it off. “Sleep. Now," he ordered.

Aomine turned his gaze to the now black TV screen and frowned. “...But _whyyyy?”_

“Because you need sleep, and all of that energy drink is unhealthy," Kuroko replied, walking over and trying to tug Aomine up off the couch by his hand.

“I’m fine,” Aomine objected, pulling his hand away from Tetsu and standing up by himself. His vision went fuzzy for a moment and he almost lost his balance, but eventually managed to trudge over to the TV and turn it back on. “I don’t even have work for like two more days, or something,” he muttered as he shuffled back towards the couch.

“I don’t care if you have work tomorrow or not. Your health is still important, and it requires you to sleep,” Kuroko told him, standing in front of Aomine to block his line of sight to the television.

Aomine sat down with the controller and tried to lean to either side to see around Tetsu. It didn’t work very well, but at this point, he could navigate the game’s menu by memory, so it was only a few seconds before he managed to start another round of the game. He couldn’t see his character, but he button-mashed in an attempt to stay alive, and stared directly at where the TV screen would be, as if he could see through Tetsu.

Kuroko narrowed his eyes, but decided to try the one thing that usually worked for getting Aomine’s attention, no matter the circumstances. Sex. He moved so that he was sitting in Aomine’s lap, leaning in to press their lips together despite the overwhelming taste of energy drink, and rolled his hips against Aomine’s.

Aomine moved his arms so they wouldn’t be pinned between them, and wrapped them around Tetsu’s waist, holding him tightly to minimize the distracting movement of his hips… and more importantly, to be able to hold the controller behind Tetsu’s back. He then pulled his lips away from Tetsu’s to plant a trail of kisses down his jaw and neck. “You’re only doing this to make me stop playing,” he said, trying to sound as unaffected as possible, and then rested his chin on Tetsu’s shoulder so he could see the TV and continue playing.

“I am offering you sex right now, even though you smell gross from not showering, and you’re still playing video games over my shoulder instead.” Kuroko sounded offended, and probably would have gotten up if Aomine’s arms weren’t so tightly wrapped around him.

Aomine hummed in thought, most of his attention still on the TV. “You could play a few rounds with me and _then_ we could have sex,” he suggested. “Oh! Shower sex! That’ll take care of two things at once.”

Kuroko decided to try and give it one more go. He moved his shoulder out from under Aomine’s chin and gripped his chin to make Aomine look him in the eyes. “Daiki. I want you to fuck me right now,” he said, moving his hips as best he could with Aomine’s grip on him.

Aomine really did enjoy having Tetsu’s warmth after hours upon hours alone on the couch, and he was _almost_ swayed by the look in Tetsu’s eyes. He began to loosen his hold on him... but then the “game over” music started playing from the TV, and his eyes widened as he tried to look around Tetsu again to see the screen. “Aw _man_ , Tetsu, you made me die!” he complained with a frustrated sigh. “Now I’m gonna have to start this level all over again…”

Kuroko frowned and took advantage of the loosened grip to get up and walk out of the living room to their room. He glanced at himself in the mirror when he passed it, wondering what wasn’t good enough to get Aomine’s attention, because that had never happened to him before. He’d never once doubted Aomine’s attraction to him since Aomine always made it very clear, but Aomine had just picked a videogame over sex with him. Kuroko felt rather miserable as he got into bed, by himself, and could still hear Aomine playing the game with the door to their room closed. A door he may have locked out of spite, even though he wasn’t really expecting Aomine to try and come in anyway.

* * *

Aomine continued playing for several more hours, only getting up for more energy drinks, food, and the bathroom. But by 3am he had run out of energy drinks, and by 4am their effects had mostly worn off, and he crashed completely sometime around 4:30. He stretched out on the sofa, and was fully intending on napping there, until he was hit with a sudden wave of guilt for how he’d treated Tetsu earlier. So, he rolled off of the couch, pushed himself to his feet, and walked down the hallway to their bedroom, reaching out to open it—

But the doorknob wouldn’t budge. He tried several times before accepting that it was locked, and instead tried knocking lightly. “Tetsu…?” he called softly, his voice weak with fatigue. He got no answer, even after saying his name a few more times, so he shuffled back to the living room and collapsed on the couch, falling asleep in seconds.

Kuroko woke up a few hours later and walked downstairs to find Aomine passed out on the couch. He sighed, but got out a blanket and placed it over him so that he would stay warm before making his coffee and getting ready for work, making a quick breakfast for Aomine for when he woke up. Just because Aomine didn’t have to go in didn’t mean he didn’t.

Aomine woke up some time later with a huge headache and a growling stomach, having no idea what time it was until he walked into the kitchen and blinked until the clock on the microwave was more than just a glowing blur. It was just after four—Tetsu would be home in an hour or two, Aomine thought vaguely as he began to look for food. He opened the fridge, thinking maybe he could heat up some leftovers, but instead spotted a plate covered with aluminum foil and labelled “Asshole”. He half-smirked and laughed a little—he didn’t remember putting that there, so it must have been Tetsu.

After heating up the food, Aomine cleaned the plate in five minutes and then left it in the sink before heading back to the living room and booting up the game console yet again. He sat on the couch, wrapped himself in the blanket (which Tetsu must have put there overnight), and started the video game, fully prepared to play until he had to go to work the next morning.

Kuroko couldn’t even say he was surprised when he got home to find Aomine playing again. “Daiki, we should go out tonight. We haven’t had a date night in a while,” Kuroko suggested after putting his things down, placing himself in Aomine’s lap and looking up at him through his lashes with a tiny smile.

Aomine had just finished a round of the game, so he turned to return Tetsu’s smile, lightly wrap an arm around his waist, and give him a little kiss on the cheek. Then he gripped the controller again, beginning to make the menu selections necessary for two-player mode as he patted the cushion next to him on which the second controller rested. “...Or we could have a night in?”

“Daiki, are you picking playing video games over a date with me?” Kuroko asked, feeling his shoulders slump in disappointment.

“This can be a date,” Aomine insisted. “Better, even! Because we can just, like, stop and make out whenever we want! Can’t do that when we go out.”

“You turned down physical affection last night as well,” Kuroko reminded him before getting up. “You know what? I’m actually kind of tired. It’s been a long day at work. I think I’m going to bed.”

Aomine looked after him with a frown for a moment. “...Don’t, uh… don’t lock the door this time, yeah?” he said, a little more hesitantly than he’d planned.

Kuroko simply held up his middle finger as he walked and he certainly did lock the door behind him, collapsing face first into the bed as he tried to figure out why his boyfriend seemed to care about a video game more than him.

Aomine sat there in shock for quite some time. He eventually went back to the game, but his mind wasn't in it—he operated entirely on muscle memory, playing round after round with robotic mediocrity. Now that he'd gotten a good twelve hours of sleep, his brain was awake enough to string together all the events of the past several days, and he realized that he'd been pretty awful and he really shouldn't be surprised that Tetsu was so angry.

His movements grew increasingly reluctant—the more he played, the more he thought about how he'd given this game more attention than his boyfriend, and felt disgusted with it and with himself. Eventually his fingers stopped pressing buttons and he lost the desire to even hold the controller, so it dropped to the floor. After several minutes of silent contemplation, he picked it up again—but only to exit the game and turn off the console.

He thought about trying to get Tetsu to open the door again, but it had been a while since he'd left, so he was probably asleep. Instead, he lay awake on the couch, not quite tired enough to sleep, and as 5am rolled around, he gave up and decided to just get an early start on getting ready for work.

* * *

When Aomine returned from work that evening, he headed straight to the living room, and found Tetsu sitting down reading a book… and a suspicious empty space on the shelf under the TV where their game console used to be. “Uh… Tetsu? What happened to the, uh…?”

“I sold it,” Kuroko said flatly, eyes not moving from the book.

Aomine walked slowly closer to the TV, staring between the empty space and Tetsu in disbelief. "...And all the games?"

“Yes. And the games.” Kuroko’s voice was just as flat as before, eyes still not straying from the book he was now just pretending to read.

"But..." Aomine bit down any protests and instead asked, "Why?" He was pretty sure he knew, but confirmation was a good idea.

Kuroko finally looked up at him, and tried to look angry, but it came across more sad as he said, “Because I missed you.”

Aomine forced himself to stare at Tetsu's hurt expression and aggressively reminded himself that _he_ had done that, it was _his fault_ Tetsu was upset, because he knew, based on past experiences, that he was apt to run away and pretend it wasn't. And he refused to let himself make that mistake ever again, so he was determined to fix this. He took a deep breath, and couldn't help turning his gaze to the ground as he said quietly, "I'm sorry. ...I was being really stupid."

Kuroko nodded in agreement. "You were. But I'll forgive you because I love you," he told him, setting the book down and giving Aomine his full attention.

Aomine looked up, a little surprised at how quickly Tetsu had forgiven him… but then, that particular trait of Tetsu’s had surprised him since the day they met. "I love you, too," he said, smiling a little. Then the smile turned teasing as he sighed dramatically. "I guess that means I _have_ to forgive you for selling all the video games, huh?"

“You can forgive me for not giving you half of the money from them, but I feel justified in selling them,” Kuroko replied, but did get up to wrap his arms around Aomine, and rest his head on Aomine’s chest.

Aomine returned the hug, holding Tetsu close and gently running a hand through the hair on the back of his head. “Well yeah, you had to do _something_ , because clearly I can’t unstupid myself,” he muttered.

“I’m not sure that anyone can unstupid you, but I’m used to it by now," Kuroko teased, holding on a bit tighter.

“Oi,” Aomine protested half-heartedly, but then stopped, still threading his fingers through Tetsu’s hair, and just silently appreciated how nice it was to have him in his arms.

“I love you," Kuroko spoke up after a few minutes of just quietly holding onto Aomine.

Aomine pulled back just enough to push back Tetsu’s bangs and give him a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, too,” he replied.

Kuroko smiled at him and then leaned up on his tiptoes and pecked Aomine on the lips. 

Aomine leaned down to kiss him again, longer and more deeply this time, and pulled away after a minute to suggest, “So… make-up sex?”

Kuroko pretended to consider for a moment before nodding. “I suppose we can do that. I expect it to be good though since you rejected my last offer of sex.”

“Challenge accepted,” Aomine said with a grin. Then, in one swift movement, he swept Tetsu off his feet and began carrying him towards their room.


End file.
